Seventh-Day Adventists/Adventist Reform

QuestionI have been an Adventist since 2005. I was not given the opportunity to review the baptismal vows concerning tithing, Ellen White,etc. before my baptism and I reluctantly accepted them on the spot. I have always had concern over the importance placed on Ellen White and her books. I have found texts in her books not biblical. I am at the point of leaving the church because I don't agree with the teachings and self-righteousness. I am taught that God is love; however, I am not seeing the fruits in my church. I am torn between ignoring what is taught and keeping my focus on God or leaving the church. What can I do in a non-leadership role to help reform the church?

AnswerThe question to remain in the SDA church has often been asked, - especially since 1980, when Dr. Ford was exiled for telling the truth about Ellen White, Church History, and the Gospel. Since that time millions of former SDA’s have left, resulting in a crisis of credibility that has only become worse over time, not better.

While you have only been in the church for a short time, many of those that left Adventism have been SDA for generations. They left because the SDA’s have not been honest about the Gospel, church history, or their doctrinal development.

In short, the 20th century leaders, who were very legalistic, were also very dishonest about Ellen White and what she taught about doctrine. They have been caught “red handed” suppressing and manipulating her writings and books in one of the largest and ongoing publishing frauds in history.

Let all understand that the SDA’s have been caught covering up what happened in Battle Creek and promoting a very false version of church history. They are great deceivers that refuse to admit what they have done, much less repent and correct the record.

Who can blame the members for getting upset when they see the church denying what they have so obviously done, pretending to be honest when they are not. It makes people angry that those who claim to follow Christ are so corrupt and dishonest.

Today, the modern SDA’s are “bait and switch” experts. They will bring new members into the church under false pretenses. They know full well that these new members have no idea what a mess of confusion and error they are getting into. So they hide the raging debates about 1844 and 1888 and say nothing of the great Battle Creek Schism that almost destroyed the SDA Denomination, forcing the church to retreat to Takoma Park at the turn of the 20th century.

They also ignore Glacier View in 1980 as well as the fact that there are more former SDA’s than there are members in North America.

People today are brought into the SDA church under very false pretenses - by the church. They not told the facts about the ongoing crisis of division, debate, and schism that is only getting worse as time goes on.

Of course if the SDA’s told the truth about all this confusion and false doctrine, no one would join. So they hide what is really going on, pretending all is well, and that they alone have all the truth, blah, blah, blah, when in fact, they are full of error, one step away from a total meltdown.

Today, in spite of spending $ millions on endless propaganda, the SDA’s cannot grow in North America. Their Old Covenant views have gone stale and so too their discredited views about Ellen White and the IJ.

Understand that you are only one of millions who can no longer tolerate so much dishonesty and false doctrine. Good for you to have a conscience and a brain!

The SDA’s no longer seek for truth; rather, they seek control over people’s minds and their wallets. Their claim to have no error or false doctrine is laughable. And so too is most of what they teach. But on they go, denying the facts that condemn them.

Let all understand that the SDA’s are not looking to repent and correct their false doctrines. Not at all. They will not listen to what anyone says, nor will they give any new doctrine room on their closed, legalistic agenda. They are determined not to believe the Gospel. So be it. The Jews took the same fatal position.

You either do it their way, believing what the SDA’s teach for doctrine and church history, or you can leave. And most eventually leave. Only to be replaced with others that have no idea what is taking place. But in a few years, they too discover that the SDA’s are in a great crisis, full of false doctrine and much corruption. And so the cycle goes over and over...

In fact, things are so bad, that the Denomination has recently hired a Public Relations firm to try and figure out how to market a positive message that will help the church grow.

The SDA’s not looking for truth or correction, but for ways to make their errors and double-talk look like truth. They have become great deceivers. Let all BEWARE.

The harder the SDA’s try to make error look true, the worse things become for them. Thanks to the Internet, the Denomination can no longer control either the agenda or the flow of information, both of which they used to control for decades.

However, the Internet is their undoing as it contains a flood of negative information about Ellen White and church doctrine that has been suppressed for years. With such information so readily accessible, the North America membership cannot grow because the public does not support dishonest, double-talking cults that exile their own members for telling the truth.

Censorship, while constantly practiced by the SDA’s, no longer works. To the chagrin of the leaders, the Internet cannot be censored or silenced. And most are not comfortable to learn that the SDA’s are not honest about the Bible or church history. Thus the need for a Public Relations Firm to help the Denomination appear in a more favorable light.

Today, there is such a high negativity rating from former SDA’s that it makes it impossible for the Denomination to grow in North America. The complaints of those who have left grow louder by the year. But yet, the leaders refuse to address the issues, pretending they have no doctrinal errors that need correction.

The SDA leaders would rather hire a Public Relations firm to make them look good, then repent of their many errors and make the necessary corrections.

In fact, the SDA’s not only refuse to admit any error, much less repent, they have launched a cyber war against their legion of critics. But the real issues, like 1844, 1888, Ellen White, and Glacier View, can no longer be covered up and hidden. Thus the cry for Gospel Reform within the Adventist Community is growing.

Recent SDA History

Following the manipulated trial of Dr. Ford at Glacier View in 1980, the SDA’s entered into a protracted period of disorientation that has only become worse over the decades. Millions of once loyal members left the church in the late 20th century, and more leave all the time as the new members eventually discover the same old problems about Ellen White and the great error of the IJ.

Thus the Adventists have embraced an Old Covenant, legalistic mindset. They don’t understand or embrace the New Covenant teachings of Christ, nor do they want to. They are in the dark, even as they claim to be in the light.

Today, many, like you, are asking how they should deal with the present crisis unfolding within the SDA Denomination? Should they leave or should they stay and try to correct the situation?

Most leave in anger, and many soon repudiate everything Adventist, trashing the very religion they once thought so true.

But this is not helpful as there is truth within Adventism, even though it might not appear that way right now. But the point here is to understand that there is a serious schism taking place within the SDA church. Things are so bad that groups are forming to help those leaving Adventism, even as many publically testify against what is being taught by the dishonest and arrogant SDA’s.

The Advent Movement deserves better. The end of the world is going to come and so too the Time of Trouble before that. The world is but a step away from catastrophe and many people are scared about the future and the end of the world. But who is prepared?

Where is credible 21st century eschatology?

No where.

Here is a critical failure of the SDA’s.

While they deserve great credit for their original views about the Second Coming, they have no credible eschatology today, nor are they even looking for something to replace their legalistic nonsense about Sunday Laws, which makes no sense in the 21st century.

The Advent Movement is Protestant and it does have some necessary Gospel truth, especially when it comes to eschatology. None of it should be wasted. But the time has come to face facts and remove the many errors that have overwhelmed modern Adventism. It is time for Adventist Reform.

If the SDA’s want to become brain dead and useless, so be it. But the Advent Movement must go forward regardless, without them. There must be Adventist Reform and forward progress. There is a Time of Trouble approaching and heaven is not about to wait for the SDA’s.

Matt. 24:19 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

Matt. 24:20 “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.

Matt. 24:21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

Matt. 24:22 “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

The time has come for a doctrinal Reformation to take place within the Adventist Community. It is time for eschatology to move forward in Gospel truth and urgency.

What is an Adventist to do when they find out that much of what they have been taught is wrong? When their best scholars, men of integrity, like Dr. Ford, were exiled for telling the Gospel truth about Ellen White and church doctrine and history?

Dr. Ford was slandered by the SDA leaders for honestly trying to correct error and promote Gospel truth. But the leaders refused to admit their errors and threw him out of the church, much like Paul was thrown out of the Synagogue in Corinth. And the leaders are still promoting this fraud about Ellen White and the IJ today just as the Jews deny the Gospel.

The SDA’s have no intentions of admitting their errors any more then they plan to tell the truth that the Apostolic Church never practiced tithing. Tithe is a very false doctrine in the church, and yet, the SDA organization is based on this OC doctrine, which was not allowed in the church.

The SDA’s are full of false doctrine, some of which makes large amounts of money for them. The fact that no one in the world supports their strange views about the IJ or Ellen White only makes them think they are better than all others, when it should send the opposite signal. They are as stubborn and wrong as the Jews and for the same reasons.

Recently, the SDA’s went so far as to find a clone of Dr. Ford; Herb Kersten is a talented Australian speaker who claimed he could prove the IJ to be Gospel doctrine.

We had a short online debate and then he ran away in defeat, like all SDA’s when confronted by someone who knows the facts.

Regardless how awful and false the doctrine, the SDA leaders refuse to repent, much less embrace correct New Covenant doctrine. They are stuck in the Old Covenant by choice, trapped in a legalistic, 19th century mindset that prevents them from understanding Gospel doctrine correctly. They love the law more than the Gospel. No one should follow them to hell.

2Cor. 3:7 But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,

2Cor. 3:8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

2Cor. 3:9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.

2Cor. 3:10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it.

2Cor. 3:11 For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

2Cor. 3:12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,

2Cor. 3:13 and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.

2Cor. 3:14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

2Cor. 3:15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;

2Cor. 3:16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

How To Transition from OC to NC Adventism

1. Search For Truth. The Advent Movement is based on the ongoing search for Bible truth. The Pioneers were not afraid of asking the hard questions and challenging religious tradition. This is how they were able to correct the error for the entire 19th century church about the 2nd Coming, eventually changing what every denomination once taught about eschatology.

To question tradition and search for doctrinal truth is the proper attitude for all that seek Eternal Life.

What does Jesus teach is truth? What does Jesus teach about the Judgment and the end of the world? What does Jesus teach about the Sabbath and church organization? This is what matters most for those who want to understand the Gospel and receive Eternal Life.

2. Take Personal Responsibility.

All that seek Eternal Life must do so individually, and with the full intent to follow Christ and what he teaches. No one is saved in a group, or because they are members of a certain denomination.

John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

We will all have to answer, individually, to Christ at the Judgment of the 2nd Coming.

Rom. 14:10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

The understanding of the Gospel is our individual responsibility. Those that depend upon the Pastor, or any denominational interpretation are being very naïve and foolish. We all have a direct link to God through Christ and his Word, even as all are Priests of God.

Rom. 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

1Cor. 12:11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

1Cor. 12:27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

Only the names written in the Book of Life count for anything. There is no salvation for having ones name on any church records. Many whose names are recorded there will not be saved because they refused the genuine Gospel of Christ.

Matt. 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Phil. 4:3 Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

All must answer for themselves on the Day of Judgment. Those who have been so foolish to follow a false Christ, - will not receive Eternal Life. Only those who follow the genuine Christ of the NT will be saved.

Matt. 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

Matt. 7:22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’

Matt. 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Matt. 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Matt. 7:25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

Matt. 7:26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

Matt. 7:27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”

3. Repent and stop following Old Covenant SDA doctrines: For those that understand the Gospel, there can be NO more tithing or support for the IJ. NO more thinking Ellen White has doctrinal authority. NO OC Sabbath keeping or thinking Sunday laws will start the Time of Trouble, etc.

It is time to understand the genuine Gospel of the NT, which includes the active and reformed NC Sabbath of Christ, which is unknown to the SDA’s.

John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Matt. 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

Matt. 7:14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matt. 7:15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

4. Learn the Gospel Issues, including the solution, which is Adventist Reform. Today, there is so much information Online that there is no excuse for anyone not to understand the current debate within the SDA church, or the solution.

5. Be Ready for Persecution. All should know that the SDA church does not allow correction or challenge, much less free Speech. So don’t expect your Pastor to even discuss Adventist Reform. He is not allowed to do anything other than pretend that the SDA’s have no errors or false doctrines.

Understand that if any church worker admits that the doctrine of tithe is false, or the IJ, --that is the end of their career. So your Pastor will not be honest with you or with anyone else. He is nothing but a hired hand controlling the members on behalf of a corrupt hierarchy that misunderstands the Gospel.

John 10:12 “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

The Denomination controls the church with a heavy hand, so much so that there is a (once secret) computer system that contains files of every worker and member, as well as the critics who question their authority, doctrine, or leadership.

So everyone is being watched by the paranoid and controlling SDA’s. The moment you stand up to question doctrine, you are a marked person. If you continue to speak out for Adventist Reform, you will be shown the door so that others are not affected.

This is the way of the modern SDA’s. They will quickly turn and attack anyone that questions their views. Only those willing to surrender their minds to the church can stomach such an anti-Gospel environment.

John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you;

Let all understand that the SDA’s are preparing for another purge, like the one that took place after Glacier View. If you don’t agree with the IJ and their other errors, they will show you the door, because they are not going to admit they are wrong about anything. They seek to control and brainwash all around them, like a mindless cult.

Instead of the SDA’s looking to find more truth, they are spending vast resources to defend their errors and spin doctrinal fabrications for the unsuspecting.

They will remove those who disagree. So first comes the development of a special computer program that tracks every member and church worker to see if they are paying tithe and being loyal to church doctrine. This will be followed by a purge of the local members who do not comply.

Let all understand the modern SDA church is organized in the same hierarchical manner as the Roman Catholic Church. Unlike the apostolic church, the SDA’s own and control every local church and thus they can control doctrine by virtue of their ownership and legal authority. Such a system is against the Gospel and the specific teachings of Christ.

Mark 10:42 Calling them to Himself, Jesus *said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them.

Mark 10:43 “But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant;

Mark 10:44 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

The NT only supports a congregational church system. Not what the SDA’s have erected for themselves. No wonder the leaders don’t want to embrace Reform. It would require wholesale changes, which they do not want any more than did the Jews who also had the same type of organizational system.

Gal. 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

6. Find Gospel Fellowship. Those who pray and search for Gospel truth will not be satisfied in the SDA church where both the law and Gospel are very misunderstood.

Much of what the SDA’s teach is false, starting with their view of the Sabbath, which was NEVER practiced in the apostolic church as the SDA’s teach.

There is a long list of errors that must be corrected, including the error about tithe and church organization, but such reform is not allowed within any local SDA church.

Consequently, the time will come when those who seek Gospel truth will have to leave the SDA’s and form their own local church. Many taking their pastors with them.

This is what took place in the 1st century as those Jews that embraced Christ mixed with their fellow Jews who followed their leaders and rejected the Gospel. The two sides could not co-exist for very long, nor should they.

Thus, Paul was thrown out of the synagogue for promoting Gospel Reform within Judaism. The Old and New Covenants cannot harmonize or ever make nice. They are opposed to each other.

Gal. 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman.

Gal. 4:23 But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise.

Gal. 4:24 This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar.

Gal. 4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother…

Gal. 4:29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.

The SDA’s are an Old Covenant paradigm, which explains why they are persecuting those of the New Covenant. This is normative and exactly what happens to any SDA that stands up for the Gospel. So be it. Better to be removed from those who embrace false doctrine than to follow them to hell.

Read the story about the genesis of the Corinthian Church. It started as a result of a debate in the synagogue over Jesus and the New Covenant. Those who supported the Old Covenant, which was the majority, threw out Paul and any that had sympathy for his New Covenant Gospel.

Acts 18:4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Acts 18:5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

Acts 18:6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

Acts 18:7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue.

Note what Paul did after he was banned from preaching Christ in the synagogue on Sabbath. He set up a competing venue, right next to the synagogue, owned by one of his converts. Here he preached the NC Gospel and even converted the “leader” of the synagogue to follow Christ and thus the church in Corinth was established. Paul stayed there for almost two years.

Acts 18:8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.

Acts 18:9 And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent;

Acts 18:10 for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

Acts 18:11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

In conclusion, stay close to the Word. Understand the NC and determine only to follow Christ and what he teaches about all things.

Do not let anyone, much less the SDA’s, define the Gospel for you. They don’t understand either the law or the Gospel correctly. Nor do they want to try. They are content with their Old Covenant Empire, even though it is crumbling for all to see.

If you want Eternal Life, you must understand the teachings of Christ for yourself and embrace them with both hands.

No one should depend on any denomination or the many so called religious experts that prance around and pretend they know Christ.

Few understand the Gospel correctly. Few have any idea what Jesus really teaches in the Gospels. But not those who will receive Eternal Life. They will know the Gospel of Christ and understand the difference between truth and error.

Matt. 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

Matt. 10:24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.

Matt. 10:25 “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!

Matt. 10:26 “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

I hope this helps,

Tom Norris for All Experts & Adventist Reform

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Comment

I found the information was most helpful and the responses were also satisfactorily backed up with resources. Thank you.

Expertise

I can answer most any question about church history and theology, starting from 1818 when William Miller articulated the 1st Angels Message that became the foundation of the Adventist Movement. While this first prophetic message terminated in the spring of 1844, it was followed by what Adventists refer to as the 2nd Angels Message, which dates from the spring of 1844 until the great disappointment of October 22, 1844. By 1847, the 3rd Angels Message had been developed and this Sabbatarian theology represents the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Moreover, I can explain the historical and theological development of the SDA denomination from its beginning and on through the great Battle Creek schism that forced the SDA's to retreat to Takoma Park. Here the 20th century church recovered from their internal battles that had erupted at the 1888 General Conference in Minneapolis over the definition of the law and the Gospel.
Fearing another repeat of this disaster, President Daniels, determined to hide this debate. However, this policy led to more conflict, especially over the role and authority of Ellen White, a unique and accomplished religious writer that had remarkable spiritual gifts. However, by the decade of the 1970`s, the church once again erupted into debate. The hierarchy settled the turmoil in 1980 with the trial of Dr. Desmond Ford at Glacier View. Here Dr. Ford was exiled because he supposedly disagreed with Ellen White over the Fundamentals. But this controversial action resulted in another major schism that is still in progress today.

Experience

Tom Norris was raised as a Seventh-day Adventist in Takoma Park, Md. He attended SDA grade and High schools, moving on to study Adventist theology at Columbia Union College. He also spent significant time conducting independent research in the General Conference Archives and the Ellen G. White Estate. Over the years he has also interviewed a number of prominent Adventist scholars, theologians, and Pastors ranging from the late Arthur White to the exiled Dr. Desmond Ford. In addition, he has amassed a large private library, which includes numerous rare books and manuscripts about Adventist theology and history. He is presently the online editor of Adventist Reform, and can be found at Adventist for Tomorrow answering questions online about SDA theology and history as well as promoting Adventist Reform. http://www.atomorrow.net/fluxbb/

Education/CredentialsTom Norris attended SDA grade and High schools, moving on to study Adventist theology at Columbia Union College. He also spent significant time conducting independent research in the General Conference Archives and the Ellen G. White Estate.